After recording a record profit of BRL 85.9 billion in 2021, the Central Bank (BC) had a loss of BRL 298.5 billion in 2022. The National Monetary Council (CMN) approved today (16) the institution’s balance sheet for last year.
In 2022, there was a loss of BRL 326.5 billion related to foreign exchange operations, such as swap (sale of dollars in the futures market) and changes in international reserves. This is because the dollar fell 5.32% last year, which causes losses when converting exchange operations into reais.
The only reason the loss wasn’t greater is that the Central Bank had an operating profit (gains from carrying out the activity) of R$ 28 billion last year. When adding the foreign exchange and operating results, it comes to a loss of R$ 298.5 billion.
Due to the 2019 legislation, which regulates the relationship between the Central Bank and the Treasury, the destination of the monetary authority’s profits has changed. Of the total damage, the Treasury will have to cover only R$ 36.6 billion with government bonds. Of the remainder, R$ 179.1 billion will be covered with a profit reserve from previous years and R$ 82.8 billion through a reduction in the BC’s assets.
The last negative result found by BC had been for the second half of 2020, when there was a loss of R$ 33.6 billion. At the time, the Treasury did not need to cover the loss because the Central Bank settled the negative result with previous profit reserves. In 2021, Complementary Law 179 
